The second ring woke him up. He lay groggy and confused for two more rings. He managed to reach over and pick up the receiver of the old telephone on the bedside table as it started to ring for the fifth time.

"Hello?" he said drearily.

"Hello. Is this Yuzuru Otonashi?"

"Uhh... Yes it is."

"This is the front desk. I was just calling to make sure you're awake."

"Yeah, I am."

"That's good. I just want to let you know there's no rush to check out. You can stay as long as you need."

"Oh. Okay. Thank you."

"One last thing, we have a message for you here at the front desk. It's from a girl, and she sounded very pleasant on the phone. You can come and pick it up whenever's convenient for you."

"Okay. Thanks again."

"You're welcome. Have a good day Mr. Otonashi."

With that the call ended as the desk clerk hung up. The call left him confused. He didn't remember asking for a wake up call. Now that he thought about it more, he didn't even remember checking in to a hotel. Why was he staying in a hotel? How long had he been here? Obviously he had planned this trip if someone knew where to leave him a message, but who had left it? He racked his brain and couldn't come up with anyone - not just anyone who might have left the message, but anyone at all. He couldn't think of any of his family or friends.

Sitting next to the old landline on the bedside table was a cell phone that had to be his. He picked it up and went into the contacts section. There were no names in it at all. He was in a hotel for seemingly no reason, couldn't think of any people, and had a phone with no contacts. What was going on?

He got out of the hotel bed, went to the window and opened the curtain. He thought perhaps looking outside would remind him of where he was and what he was doing there, but it wasn't the case. Outside he saw a town with narrow roads blanketed in snow. In the middle of the road was a line of trees, now leafless in the winter weather. They were covered in golden lights. It must be very early or he'd slept very late for it to be dark out right now. The place didn't feel or look familiar at all.

"Yuzuru Otonashi," he said quietly, almost as if reminding himself. Right now he was wondering if he'd even know his name if the desk clerk hadn't said it on the phone. He decided the best way to start piecing things together would be to start with the message waiting for him at the front desk. If someone had a message for him they must know him. If he could get into contact with this person - this girl - she might be able to explain to him why he was here.

Yuzuru walked over to the closet and opened it. There were plenty of clothes inside. He had apparently planned to stay for a while. He picked out some warm clothes - he couldn't find a coat - and changed into them. Then he noticed something else that didn't make sense. He didn't see a suitcase anywhere. He double checked the closet and looked under the bed. Nope. No suitcase. Had he carried all the clothes in by hand? Who travels without a suitcase? Nothing made any sense. His goal hadn't changed, though. He still needed to find this girl. He doubted if she could tell him why he didn't have a suitcase, but any information would do at this point. He grabbed the phone with no contacts, and made his way down to the lobby. Once there he approached the woman at the front desk. He figured it must be the same woman that had given him his wake up call.

"Hello. My name's Yuzuru Otonashi. I was told there was a message for me?"

"Yes, Mr. Otonashi. Let me go get it for you." She turned and went into another room behind the counter, then returned quickly with an envelope in hand. "Here you go."

"Thank you."

"Of course."

Yuzuru sat down in one of the lobby chairs to read the message. He unsealed the envelope, which had his name on it. He pulled out the piece of paper inside and unfolded it.

Dear Yuzuru,

I've been waiting for you for a long time. I wasn't sure you'd ever make it here. I was really happy when I found out you'd be coming. I've really missed you. I can't wait to see you again. Meet me in the middle of town, please, so we can finally see each other again.

The note had no name. This surprised him a little, even though he thought in retrospect that it shouldn't. Information didn't seem to want to come easy at the moment. He put the note back in the envelope, folded it in half, and put it into his back pocket.

As soon as Yuzuru stepped outside he noticed several things. There were people walking around and kids playing in the snow, but like him none of them were wearing coats. The moon was out but it wasn't actually cold out at all. Also, once his feet had sunk into the snow he realized the the ground directly outside the hotel was dirt. It seemed like another oddity, but as he thought about it he didn't know what else it would possibly be.

Yuzuru made his way down the street in front of the hotel, the same one he'd seen out the window. Instinctively he felt that this must be one of the main roads of the town. If that were true this road must lead to the middle of town where the mystery girl was waiting. She hadn't specified a time in the note. He figured the meeting must be for today. If he'd just been told about the message today, then it couldn't have been at the front desk long. The note had said that the girl had been waiting for him. He didn't want to make her wait any longer than necessary. He didn't mind if he got there first since he couldn't remember what he should be doing anyway. He pulled out the cell phone to check the time, but it wasn't displayed. Why did he even have this phone? It hadn't been useful yet.

He made it to the center of town fairly quickly. He had been right about the street after all. He brushed the snow off a bench and sat down. He didn't know who he was meeting, but if they'd planned this, obviously the girl would be looking for him.

He didn't have to wait long. As soon as he spotted the girl he knew her immediately. He stood up, but didn't move. He was in complete disbelief. How was she here? He'd lost her so long ago, that finding her again could only mean one thing.

He fell to his knees as she ran to him. They wrapped their arms around each other as tightly as they could. She was right, it felt like it had been an impossibly long time. He wept as he held her, just as he had when she left him.

In her tiny familiar voice, she said to him, "I've missed you, big bro."

"I've missed you too, Hatsune."